Mar 5, 2013 - Gold, hummingbirds, orchids and waterfalls

We met up with Susan again and the 3 of us hopped on the trolley ($.25)and headed for old town. An older man was watching us trying to figure out how many stops to where we wanted to go and pointed "aqui" as in "we're here" and helped us count out trolley stops to our destination. When I thanked him he gave me a toothless grin and said "welcome to my country". I hope Canadians are as kind to tourists as the Ecuadorians have been to us. There was a crowd at the grand plaza so we decided to stay and figure out what was going on. There were...

Jan 3, 2013 - Mindo

I arrived in Mindo in the late afternon on Sunday after a 2-hour bus ride from Quito. The bus cost only $2.50, but the taxi to get to the (far far away) bus station cost $8! Go figure. Mindo is a town of about 2000 in a cloud forest at 1200 meters altitude. Observant readers will notice that this is 1650 m lower than Quito. Losing 1650 meters in 2 hours suggests very twisty mountain roads so I took a Gravol (motion sickness medication) before departure. I felt fine, but I also slept through most of the scenery. I'm staying at a great...

Mar 3, 2011 - Mindo adventure

We set out at 6.30am with a German couple and our guide and began our ascent up into the cloud forest. We saw a toucan, a hummingbird and a huge Ecudorian pigeon thing (I believe that is it’s official name) through our guide´s super-duper telescope. It’s easy to forget that such birds actually exist in the world when all you see day-in, day-out are one-legged pigeons and common garden sparrows. After a couple of hours we descended the steep path to see la cascada, which was beautiful. Mike had a dip in the pool at the bottom of the smaller...

Mar 2, 2011 - Up the faraway trees

We had originally planned to get the eight o’clock bus from La Ofelia station to Mindo, a cloud-forest about two hours north-west of Quito, but decided the night before that we would catch the four o’clock instead. We’d been to the north station the day before so weren’t worried about the journey there itself, just the possibility of the bus not running early enough to get us there on time. We spent the majority of the day catching up on emails and sorting our luggage out, then headed to the station in good time for our bus. We chatted to a...

Oct 22, 2010 - Bye, Bye Birdies

So, I've been pondering the significance of Mindo being the Tanager bird species capital and that, for 30+ years we lived on Tanager Road. Mindo being our first stop on "recasting" our lives and all. Just coincidence or something mystical at work? My Irish partner (Dan) says I've had too much time to think to come up with this one! Anyway, our first change in plans is already in the works. We are leaving Mindo on the bus (that'll be a story all by itself) tomorrow morning. We scored a "too good to pass up" deal to cruise the Galapagos for 8...

Oct 15, 2010 - It's A Jungle Out There

Finally, we've arrived and our re-cast lives have begun! And South America looks like it will not disappoint with its very different culture, landscape and regional diversity! Not to mention language ... an element we underestimated. We are staying at Birdwatchers House, an adequate lodging in the village of Mindo. Vinicio, owns & runs the place while also conducting bird-watching tours throughout Ecuador (he's listed as one of the experts w/Surtrek among other exclusive Tour organizers for Ecuador). Our first disappointment is there...

Jul 18, 2010 - Ecuadorian Cloud Forest

We took a 2 hour trip for $2 by bus to Mindo, in the cloud forest. We went to a funny little lodge with a focus on bird watching. They served all meals. We were the only guests and had a very interesting challenge trying to converse. They had a dozen hummingbird feeders and at least that many species coming right up to the balcony to feed. There were also beautiful tanagers, finches, as well as a possum and monkeys at night. We did a pre dawn walk to see cock of the rock. They are an interesting bird where the males come out at 6 am every...

Aug 4, 2008 - Mindo magic and mozzies!

After a night back at the Travellers Inn in Quito (which became my base 6 times in total thanks to brilliant hospitality from Carlos and family), I set off for Mindo and the cloudforest, which Hattie and others had raved about. Travelled with Kate and Marcia from the T. Inn and, on arrival, met Claudia who runs the El Rocio hostel and greets the buses. Claudia was brilliant and ran us round all over the place to make sure that K and M, who were only there for the day, got the most out of their time. So when I discovered that my advance...

Jan 17, 2008 - Mindo

Travelled by bus to this bird sanctuary. The hotel is fabulous-will write about it later. Am not able to add pictures because this computer is s.....l......o......w......Will try again later. First of all-our hotel...Caskaffesu. It is owned by an American woman who used to be in the Peace Corp. Her husband is Ecuadorian and they have built a paradise. They are both musicians and love to be with people. They are the nicest-coolest proprietors I have ever met. The hotel/restaurant is boutique style with a huge fireplace and tables for...

Jul 29, 2007 - BellaVista Cloud Forest Reserve

After 2 weeks in school, a weekend in the clouds was just what we needed. We had our last meal with our family on Friday night, typically Ecuadorian apparently. Fried egg, 2 sausages, half an avocado, 3 potato cheese cakes, salad and rice....an interesting combinantion! The Ecuadorian diet is very Carb laden, rice with everything and usually rice, potatoes or pasta and bread all in the same meal. We had recieved confirmation that we would be picked up by the bus from Bella Vista where we would be spending the weekend, at 9am on Saturday. At...